Editor's Note: Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler responded today with comments about The Times' article by Lex Talamo, "$1 Million Billing Error." It appears online here and in print Oct. 13. Below is her response in its entirety.

"You may be aware of the article written in The Times newspaper regarding the under-billing in the water department. Although the billing system was set up prior to my administration, we have done due diligence on this error, as we have with many other problems we assumed when I entered this office. The problem has been corrected and is currently under investigation. When the matter was brought to our attention, once verified, the problem was immediately corrected. The outside parties involved demanded, initially $250,000 for the information and a contract for future work. The last demand which threatened to expose this to the public rose to $1.8 million. I have been steadfast in my convictions to not allow the City to be extorted or blackmailed on the backs of the citizens.

The fact that most of these outside parties have former ties or employment with the City gave me grave concern about the true source of this discovery and the motivation behind their efforts. I have been very transparent throughout my administration and will continue to do so. Consequently, we are providing all documentation and information related to this matter to the Department of Justice for its review.

The article also referred to bond coverage, but we had previously confirmed that this matter does not impact the ability of the City to issue necessary water and sewer bonds including those recently approved by the Council. Bond issuance depends on the ability of the City to cover the debt incurred based on audited collection figures. The City has never had a problem maintaining the coverage even prior to the error being detected. Because I refused to give in to the demands of these outside parties, they have now attempted to hurt this community by providing misleading information to the State Bond Commission which could impede our ability to meet the mandates of the Consent Decree. Interestingly enough, the City Attorney received a call today from the State Bond Commission regarding this matter. Be assured that we have consulted with bond counsel and state bond commission staff to verify that our issuances are not affected.

I will provide a complete report to the City Council and to the citizens of this community once the investigations are complete."